+2
hm. VERY quickly:
Looking to cash in on a dying YA trend, Director M. Night Shyamalan writes, produces, and directs the first one of three intended installments he has affectionately named My Dearest. The plot is loosely based around other similar YA stories of a young girl, frustrated with her purpose in life and in need of an emotional outlet. she meets a boy in the woods who has no name, and does not speak but it is clear that there is an attraction. The story evolves when the girl, Maya, tries to bring this boy into town to confront his antisocial disorders while defying her widowed, alcoholic father and other older, disassociated townfolk elders that look down on the boy and her relationship with him.
He is terrified of this strange, fast-paced word that he has avoided his entire life, living in the wilderness, and she is his self-appointed healer whose only purpose in life now is to protect him and love him. The classic twist in this tale is when the father, while out hunting from his secluded deer stand deep in the woods, sees the boy wandering alone and aimless towards his stand. The father watches silently as the young man walks under his tree-perched stand and out of view. Moments later, a young buck continues from under his stand on the same trajectory the boy had been walking. At first the father is confused. How could he have missed such a glaring target so close to him! He slowly pulls his rifle to aim, lining his scoped crosshair against the creature's heart. As he positions his finger ever so quietly against the trigger, he slows down. He can then hear his own heartbeat. He can now hear the deer's heartbeat. In that moment of pause, a fear in doubt begins to creep in. Could his daughter's new love interest be, in fact, this deer?
We only see the father's very subtle shift of facial expression to hint at this revelation for the the audience to pick up on before fading to black. Screen text "To be continued: Summer 2024."
Post screening, Shyamalan will reveal that this movie is actually a prequel to his 2006 film, The Lady in the Water---as he always intended it to be.
An end credit scene will also be available showing a confused Bruce Willis waking at night in a panic, his abdomen bloodied. He looks down fearful, touches the blood, then looks to his left startled by a sharp cracking noise. Reveal a male deer standing approximately 10 feet from Willis' body. More confusion. A crane shot zoom out from directly above Willis reveals that he is outstretched in a bed of autumn leaves. As the reverse zoom continues, we see that he is deep in a forest. In the top right corner of screen is a small structure barely noticeable. It is the top of a deer stand. Just as this comes into frame, quick cut to black where Willis wakes up again in another panic, but this time safe in his bed in his own home. He is no longer bleeding. It was a nightmare. Or was it?
His wife turns over and asks, "What is it, Malcolm?" Cut again to Willis' face in close-up. Cut to a final black screen as loud native drums soundtrack the end scene. *Beat* We hear Willis whisper, "Nothing, Anna. Go back to sleep."
The theater house lights are illuminated.
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